Introducing Effy

I’m not sure if I like this theme or not. To be honest, I cannot stand pink. I’ve only ever worn pink a few times in my life, and most times it was when I didn’t really have an option (i.e. schools like having pink days for some reason, a special event or cause, etc.). And yet the Pink Touch 2 theme consists of pink, and this theme consists of pink (pink links). I’m most likely going to change it soon simply because it’s pink, and then I’m probably going to be changing the postmetadata as well. I don’t hate it; it just doesn’t fit right being at the bottom of the entry. I’ll probably end up moving it to the sidebar later.

Within the past month (starting late September) I developed a passion for Skins. The UK version is better than the US version, which uses the same script (with the exception of using British terms) but a different setting and some different characters. Personally, I’m glad the child pornography issues with the Skins (US) filming happened, because it means it stopped production. Things that happen in the UK are usually better in the UK. Skins is like the UK version of the Canadian TV show Degrassi.

Warning: The rest of this post contains spoilers for those who have not watched the series. The spoilers are merely a nutshell of Effy Stonem’s life in the Skins (UK) series through my eyes and important in understanding my “Effy” theme.

In the first season (with the first generation), Effy is this “average teenager” who sneaks out (her brother, Tony, keeps guard) to hang out with friends. It backfired once, and she ended up in the hospital. Once she is out, she must accompany her brother wherever he goes. Whilst she is in the car, her brother’s in an accident. At season two, Effy goes from living her life as a rebellious teen to helping her brother. Although she isn’t in very many episodes with the first generation (seasons 1 and 2), her personality is still shown. “My brother’s not nice; he’s amazing,” she tells Pandora, a new student to her school that she must mentor, whilst in her room and hands the girl an awareness card of Tony’s.

Season three is the start of generation two, which includes Effy’s gen. The season kicks off with the first day of college. The college has new rules, and Effy has a list of rules she wants to break before the day is over. She hands a copy to Freddie, who shares it with JJ and Cook. Whomever completes the list first gets to have sex with her. Cook wins. From then on, they’re sort of “together”, but as merely friends-with-benefits (Cook eventually falls in love with Effy). Toward the end of the season, it is revealed how Effy’s life truly is through her eyes: She’s dead inside, and the person who was always there to look after her (her brother) isn’t there anymore. Her mum won’t pay attention to her, her father is gone… She goes to Freddie’s shed to find him there with Katie. Later on, Katie invites Effy to a party to drive them there, but Cook’s not invited. When things go wrong, she runs away with Cook. In the last episode, Effy and Cook are at the location of his father. She phones Freddie to get help for Cook because he’s “in trouble”, stating she can’t help Cook because she loves Freddie, and he and JJ track down the phone number to the town. It is then put out in the open who Effy loves, and after some mishaps happen with Cook and Cook’s father, they steal his father’s boat and make their way back in Bristol. Once home, Effy is seen crying as her mum gives her a bath; the damage from the party in the woods not at all forgotten.

In season four, Cook is in prison, and Freddie and Effy are living their hedonistic at her house, her mum away at the time. Effy is worse than being dead inside – newspaper clippings of death cover her walls. In episode seven, she is in a psychiatric hospital after trying to take her own life. Effy’s counselor tells her she’s ready to go back home, but she isn’t sure about it. Back at home, everything she does is in a schedule, written on the whiteboard her mum made for her. Her room is redecorated, wiping all signs of old Effy out. When Effy starts denying her identity, they know something isn’t right. She ends up back in the hospital.

*fast forward*

At the end of season, Freddie is missing, and the gang (including Effy, as she was released) is in his shed to celebrate his birthday.

The three balloons represent love, hope and sanity. The pink text “Effy” represents life, as in Effy’s life and/or life in general.

Comments on this post

I don’t really like most pink, especially “baby pink” type shades, but I do like the “harsher” shades of pink, like the one you have- almost magenta.
I think the color mix looks nice, but I’m kind of biased because I like the shade of blue used in the links, the shade of grey, and magenta. So overall, this is almost like most of my favored colored smushed into one layout…

It’s really interesting how you made a character a theme without using her at all (most “tribute” layouts I’ve seen use character images, “key” components like items or logos, or at least quotations), but through artistic expression. I wasn’t going to read the rest of the entry after the “spoiler” warning because it might have been a show I may want to watch in the future for some reason or another, but I ended up reading it after I wrote the previous paragraph, and I’m glad I did, because I’m now kind of interested in the show and the character, and I actually know the significance of the layout to you (though I don’t know if I’ll ever get to watching it, especially if it’s 3 seasons long, since I cannot keep up with shows/focused enough to watch things for long periods of time).

I love the color pink. Not to wear, I cannot stand wearing the color, but as for design, I love the color. And pink nail polish is also very acceptable. I find it hard to match pink without looking young or ultra girly. Although, I did recently purchase a hot pink dress.

I also love Skins. One of my favorite teen dramas, maybe my favorite. Effy is my favorite character besides Cassie. I liked how her character grew, and how damaged she was. I like the theme, mainly because I love Effy and love the song ‘Breathe Me’!

I think that this is one of the best layouts that you’ve made! Whenever I make my own layout, I usually will never get the colors to match well with each other, but you’ve done a great job with that. I agree with Hiro and am glad that you made a reference to the show without using a huge picture of Effy in the header.

I read through the spoilers, since I probably will never have time to watch Effy, and can see some of the parallels to your own life. There are more seasons to come, so I hope that the show has a good, hopeful ending for you!

@Stephanie, Thanks! I think I’ve decided to keep the pink as well… It has kind of grown on me… As for the celebrity/character pictures, I didn’t want to have to deal with the copyright mess. I also could have drawn a fanart thing/something of myself, but I suck at that. Plus, I didn’t really want the whole face thing. I’m kind of the kind of person who likes to keep people guessing and let them have their own imagination when it comes to looks and whatnot.

Yeah, as I watched more of the show a few months ago, I realized that Effy and I could relate. I think she’s a more extreme version of how I could have ended up, though, as she gets into drugs and drinking and other dangerous situations. There’s only one season, and it’ll be of three two-hour long episodes focusing on Cassie, Cook and Effy — an episode for each of where they have ended up. 🙁

I really REALLY like this layout. Now that I am commenting on it I can see every aspect and it is AMAZING!

What happened to closing down all of your domains and moving to seekliza.me? Are you not doing that anymore?

Degrassi is Canadian? Hm…Had no idea….
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Thank you. 🙂

I hate it when life gets in the way. I’ll probably get a 2 br place and post around campus that I am looking for a roommate and to contact me and then maybe I’ll get a good person. I’ll have strict rules though but it would still be cool.
Idk I’ve really thought over about just going to live in a dorm but I just can’t do it. I really want to be able to decorate the place like I want but I can’t do that in a dorm. Everyone wants me to live in one as I will be forced to socialize but Idk I just don’t want to. I’d prefer to live in an apartment.
My mom will pay for either or so it is pretty much up to me to find some place less than $750/mo that has everything I want.

Haha I actually love pink! I’m not a big fan of wearing them, but I like pink accessories and pink WordPress themes. I see no problem with your theme, it’s cute and simple! It’s unfortunate that I won’t be seeing it again very soon! D=